Gucci strengthens metaverse presence with Yuga Labs collab

Gucci is continuing its metaverse activities, having signed a multi-year partnership with NFT giant Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks.

Swati Bhat

Spanning fashion and digital entertainment, Kering-owned Gucci is building its presence in the metaverse and Web3 domain. The luxury house is investing to further establish itself as an early adopter of blockchain and decentralisation with immersive experiences and virtual fashion.

Last year Gucci lauched the Gucci Grail in association with 10KTF, were digital apparel and accessories were customised into NFTs. The brand also launched SuperGucci, a second NFT line.

Yuga Labs has proven to be a principal player in Web3, with its Otherside Metaverse recording a sales volume of 222 million dollars for the first quarter of 2023, according to Luxuo.

In a Tweet on Monday evening Gucci said it is “continuing to explore the Metaverse, the House comes together with @yugalabs. Stay tuned as a new narrative takes shape, blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital."

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #Gucci #metatainment #SuperGucci #Yugalabs #future #digital

Adobe and NVIDIA Join Forces to Unleash the Potential of Generative AI

Adobe and NVIDIA will collaborate on the development of a new generation of advanced generative AI models. The collaboration will centre on the deep integration of generative AI in creative workflows. Both companies support content transparency and Content Credentials, which are powered by Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative.

Pritish Bagdi

Image: Gene Silvers. Anil Chakravarthy, president, digital experience; David Wadhwani, president, digital media; Shantanu Narayen, CEO in front of Firefly generated images.

Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) and NVIDIA, longtime R&D partners, have announced a new collaboration to harness the power of generative AI to advance creative workflows. Adobe and NVIDIA will collaborate on the development of a new generation of advanced generative AI models, with a focus on deep integration into applications used by the world's top creators and marketers. Some of these models will be co-developed and released through Adobe's Creative Cloud flagship products such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects, as well as through the new NVIDIA Picasso cloud service, allowing third-party developers greater access. Priorities of the partnership include ensuring content transparency and Content Credentials powered by Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative, as well as supporting the commercial viability of the new technology.

NVIDIA Picasso, a cloud service for generative AI announced today, allows users to build and deploy generative AI-powered image, video, and 3D applications with advanced text-to-image, text-to-video, and text-to-3D capabilities to supercharge productivity for creativity, design, and digital simulation via simple cloud APIs. "Adobe and NVIDIA have a long history of collaborating to advance the technology of creativity and marketing," said Scott Belsky, Adobe's Chief Strategy Officer and EVP, Design and Emerging Products. "We're excited to collaborate with them on how generative AI can provide our customers with more creative options, speed up their work, and help scale content production."

"Generative AI empowers unprecedented creativity," said Greg Estes, NVIDIA's VP of Corporate Marketing and Developer Programs. "With NVIDIA Picasso and Adobe tools like Creative Cloud, we'll be able to bring the transformational capabilities of generative AI to enterprises, allowing them to explore more ideas while producing and scaling incredible creative content and digital experiences."

Adobe Firefly, Adobe's new family of creative generative AI models, was unveiled earlier today, along with the beta of its first model focused on the generation of images and text effects that are safe for commercial use. Firefly will bring even more precision, power, speed, and ease to workflows involving the creation and modification of content in Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe Firefly is a web browser. Some Adobe Firefly models will be hosted on NVIDIA Picasso, which will optimise performance and generate high-quality assets to meet customer expectations. Adobe is also working on new generative AI services to help with the creation of video and 3D assets, as well as to assist marketers in scaling and personalising content for digital experiences by advancing end-to-end marketing workflows. Initiative for Content Authenticity Adobe established the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) to establish open industry standards for attribution and Content Credentials. People will be able to see when content was generated or modified using generative AI by using Content Credentials that CAI adds to content at the point of capture, creation, edit, or generation. Adobe and NVIDIA, as well as the CAI's other 900 members, support Content Credentials so that people can make informed decisions about the content they encounter.

It will add a "Do Not Train" tag for content creators who do not want their content to be used in model training, and that tag will be associated with content wherever it is used, published, or stored.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #metatainment #Adobe #AI #Firefly #DigitalFuture #Technews #meta #3D #art

Charles & Keith taps virtual K-pop artist for The Sandbox virtual world

Charles & Keith is expanding its presence in the metaverse world with the launch of its first virtual world, CharlesKeithHaus, on The Sandbox platform, and has enlisted virtual K-pop artist Apoki to appear.

Pritish Bagdi

Image: Charles & Keith/ Apoki

The virtual world is modelled after the retailer's 'State of Play' spring/summer 2023 campaign and is curated to reflect the spirit of the new collection, right down to the domain's colour palette.

From March 13 to 27, CharlesKeithHaus will offer in-game quests such as quizzes and challenges, such as finding a secret room to redeem a digital wearable of its Petra Curved Shoulder Bag. There will also be an NFT gallery displaying new artworks.

Apoki, South Korea's number one virtual K-Pop artist, will make a special appearance and perform her first single of 2023, 'Mood V5,' while dressed digitally in pieces from Charles & Keith's new collection. Apoki was designed to resemble "a rabbit-like being living somewhere in space" and is trained in K-pop music and dance.

"Apoki is South Korea's most talked-about virtual artist with a global following; she inspires fans to express themselves, much like we aim to spark joy and confidence in women to experiment with fashion," Charles & Keith add in a statement.

The rooftop party will also include a catwalk where guests will be able to see the new collection in "real" time.

#thecommunique #tc #tcn #CharlesandKeith #metatainment #digitalfashion